, 1887-11-10
A CUSTOM" OF oAHomEY.
sickcning Sights for the Eyes of Civilized
1Ian-A Serenade,

sickcninG Sights for the Eyes of Civilized
Mana Serenade.
Evans informed me that in a few days
n of the customs" ms the Dahomians
call them, was to come off in the court
yard Of the palace, and that 1 could wit
ness it If 1 chose. 1 did choose, but 1
wished afterward that l had not. These
customs, which nave existed as long as
DahOmey has-they claim a thousand
years-are Of various kinds, and with
names. The one l was to witness was
called Throwing Of the Presents" 9TH
crs, Watering the Kings Graves, - ''The
Feast of the Troubadours," 1.-THE Day of
the King" The Milking of the Palm"
etc.
The day came off. Evans, with q shud
der, declined to attend. He had seen It
the year before. In the center OF the
court yard n platform was erected, hung
with silks, velvets and flags, including
that of Dahomey-a white ground, with q
figure in black holding aloft a decapitated
head in one m and q cimiter In the
other. On this platform stood the king,
surrounded by his mobiles, among whom L
had n prominent seat, while below strug-
Gled n mass of 90, 900 or more people, kept
in some order by the woman guard.
The affair began by the king personally
throwing into n sliding trench various
packages of goods, consisting of c%ottous,
clothes and cloths, knives, muskets, pipes
and tobacco, all Of which were fought
fiercely for by the crowd below. Then
came the grand point-the slaughter.
The victims were brought forth dashed
Into boat shaped baskets, in a sitting po-
sition, with knees drawn up to the chin,
and lifted into the slide, from which they
went down to the crowd below. Then
there came n horrible scramble. Thousands
with long and bright knives threw them
selves on the victim and in q he
was hacked TO pieces, as well as were
some of his hackers, the victor being the
one who came off with the head. This
was kept mp for three hours, the number
killed amounting to about 200, until the
Grove below was reeking and smeared
with blood. A more horrible sight was
never witnessed, and it did not lessen the
horror with me to be told that this is not
n mere useless slaughter, as civilized ma
tions suppose, but a day of execution, the
decapitated being criminals, traitors n
prisoners of war, who have been ''offen-
siye political partisans." 1t is the highest
holiday in the year, and the only one
where much slaughtering is done, and
there is no doubt, according to Mr..
Evans, that the king himself wishes to
abolish that part of it, but he dares not.
ma hl5hN ptlhupS us u oOOlHeI " my
nerves, the king gave us a serenade by
his private band. / wa9 awakened
about midnight bya noise that 1 can COM
pare to nothing but a thunderstorm in
scales. They ran from high to low, and
got terribly mixed in the middle. 1t was
not really unpleasant, but, like the chin
ing Of bells, should be heard at a distance
the greater the distance the better. I
sprang to the window, to find that this
band consisted of twenty-five men, each
with a log, or piece of wood, the largest
so heavy hat 1t took fCIr men to carry 1t.
These were set, one end on the ground,
the other supported by n wood t~restle, and
beaten on the high end with wood ham
mers, of all sizes, from the hand hammer
to n sledge, each stick or log emitting its
sound, but no distinguishable air result
in".-J. w. Watson in North American
Review.